1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a compact multiphase inline water separation system to segment and separate a significant portion of bulk water that is produced during oil and gas production and delivered with the production stream. The water separated from the production stream by the present invention will be clean enough for disposal or re-injection back into the reservoir or otherwise disposed of. The remaining production stream minus the removed water may then be sent to existing processing facilities.
2. Prior Art
Various systems, processes and structures are well known to separate water that is produced during production of an oil and gas well. The amount of water produced varies widely depending on the particular geological formation, and also depending on the age of the well. For example, in some wells, oil or gas will be the greatest percentage of the fluids produced. Over time, more and more water will be produced from the well.
Accordingly, it is desirable to remove the water from the production stream. Various types of status separation systems and devices are well known. For example, various gravity type separators are used to separate two or three phases into their constituent portions. While these serve the function they are designed for, they are not suitable to operate in an in-line, dynamic system where the amount of fluids, the pressures and the temperatures vary.
Various prior designs for staged separation systems have been proposed in the past. For example, Sands et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,443) discloses a multistage separator system using a centrifugal counter current liquid/liquid contactor.
Hudson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,393) discloses a first stage separator for separation into three components with water removed therefrom directed to a hydrocyclone.
There remains a need for an inline water separation system that is both compact and may be used inline during oil and gas production to remove a significant portion of the water which is delivered along with the production stream.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an in-line water separation system which could be dynamically monitored and controlled to separate bulk water from a hydrocarbon production stream.
It would also be desirable to provide an inline compact water separation system to separate a significant portion of produced water from a production stream with the remaining production fluids such as gas, oil and a small portion of water (sent to existing processing facilities).
It would also be desirable to provide an inline water separation system wherein the quality of the separated water meets all requirements for reinjecting the water or disposing of directly.